Replies

I have little disagreement with most of what you said. (And dang and oops — 98 is of couse a typo on my part for 89; right numbers, wrong order!)

I am totally against abuse of present-day Jews for what their ancestors did. "Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16)

Equally I am totally against revising the past. You miss the point about Clinton (about whom, again, I agree with you: he should be breaking rocks). The point is, saying what should have and should not have happened is not the same as saying what did happen.

And I have eyewitness documents that say what happened. You seem to think thet lose their character as historical witnesses because they are the fulfillment of prophecies of Torah. I disagree — any more than the documents of Torah are not also historical witnesses. You seem to think they're matters of pure faith, whereas what you appeal to is something else. It is no such thing, any more than your assertion of your own existence.

I'm not blaming you for the mistakes, or sins, of your fathers. I do blame you for whitewashing them, if that is what you're doing. And I'm interested in whether or not you will repeat, or repent of, their profound sin in regard to Messiah Jesus. That brings the question into the modern day. But it never, NEVER calls for human retaliation.

Dan

Dan,

I think (hope) we have whittled this down to something a bit more manageable.

Yes, I view the Bible as more a matter of faith and less a matter of absolute divine revelation. I tend to see the text as divinely inspired but not always historically accurate down to the smallest detail. This does not lessen my belief in God or lessen my belief that events depicted in both texts don't contain ultimate truth. I believe they do. It also does not relieve me from my obligation to follow the moral code laid out for me in the text.

Again, I am not telling you what to beleive, nor am I interested in changing one word of the New Testament by way of revision. If I led you to believe I thought the New Testament was not worthy of adherance, that was not my intent and I certainly don't believe it. I just practice a different faith.

As I said before, I would be pleased as punch if The Passion led to millions of new observant Christians.

One final word on Foxman and the ADL (true story). I'm sitting in the synagogue one night after services when the president of the local ADL comes up to me.

ADL guy: PP, we would like you to come to our annual ADL lunch and join our organization.

ME: That's Foxman's outfit right?

ADL guy: Yes, that right.

ME: Well thank you but no thank you. I would'nt be interested.

ADL guy: (A bit take aback) Really, why not?

ME: You guys stand for gun control and I really could not see my way clear to joining an organization dedicated to destroying my Constitutional right to bear arms.

ADL guy (reeling) Uh well yeah. I guess I see that. (Recovers) You know I used to have some guns too until I got married and my wife made me get rid of them.

ME: Wow, she made you get rid of your guns? How did she do that?

ADL guy: (Matter of factly) She told me to!

Shalom
PP